794 



NA TURE 



[June 17, 1922 



Iron Ore in Europe.^ 



By Prof. J. W 



THE political redistribution of the iron ores and 

 coal supplies of Central Europe b}'- the late 

 war was one of the results of most portentous import 

 to the future of the world. A clear summary of the 

 available evidence by a well-qualified expert who 

 represents so impartial an authority as the Geological 

 Survey of the United States, is a valuable addition 

 to the literature of political geology. The evidence 

 on which the memoir is based is of very unequal 

 value, for any individual synopsis of the iron ore 

 position must be based on the published records, 

 which are of varying quality in different countries ; 

 moreover, the author remarks that the Russian and 

 Slavonic literature is available to him only at second 

 hand. 



Despite its deficiencies, inevitable in any review 

 of the ore supplies of a continent which is such a 

 political patchwork as Europe, Roesler's memoir is 

 a valuable supplement to the monograph on the 

 iron ores of the world which was published in 

 1910 by the International Geological Congress. Mr. 

 Roesler has brought the information up to date and 

 presents it in a more compact form. Moreover, he 

 expresses the results graphically in a series of sixteen 

 clear and instructive maps which show the distribution 

 of the ore fields and the known and estimated qualities 

 of ore in each. 



The outstanding feature of the present position 

 is the overwhelming predominance of France in 

 Europe as regards supplies of iron ore. In this respect 

 France among the nations of the world stands second 

 only to the United States. " France has the largest 

 reserves. She stands so clearly above the other 

 countries of Europe that there is no question of her 

 holding first place." The French known, probable, 

 and possible iron ores are estimated at a total of 

 4,369,600,600 metric tons, a total which amounts to 

 35-2 per cent of the iron ore reserves of Europe ; 

 the British Isles take the second place with i8-2 per 

 cent., Sweden is third with 12-5 per cent., the German 

 Republic fourth with ii-i per cent. According to 

 the author's classification of European countries 

 Spain is fifth with 5 per cent., for he subdivides 

 Russia, with a total of 8-3 per cent, into the Central, 

 Southern, and Ural regions. The Russian iron fields 

 are so scattered that it is a great convenience to 

 keep them distinct, for they may be developed as 

 separate industrial areas each supplying a different 

 group of provinces. 



The British supplies accepted by Roesler are smaller 

 than some estimates ; he admits that the iron included 

 in these estimates is present, but he considers that 

 some of the material is of so low a grade that it 

 should not be regarded even as possible ore. He 

 remarks that his own figure for possible ore, 2254 

 million metric tons, may be too large. 



Germany has fallen to the fourth place, and the 

 unfavourable conditions of a large proportion of its 

 ore has led to the prediction that it cannot be worked 

 and that the future of Germany is " only that of an 

 agrarian state. ' ' The author dismisses this hypothesis 

 with the remark that Germany " has shown her capa- 

 city to use her resources thoroughly enough to justify 

 the conclusion " that the ores left her will be fully 

 exploited. 



The large volume of French ores is due to the 

 sedimentary ores in the Jurassic field of Lorraine. 

 The sedimentary ores of Europe range from the 

 pre-Cambrian beds at Krivoi Rog in Southern Russia 

 to the Pliocene ores of Kerch in the Crimea, and 



* " The Iron-Ore Resources of Europe," by Max Roesler, Dept. of the 

 Interior, U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 706, 1921, pp. 152+xix. pis. +32 figs. 



Gregory, F.R.S. 



representative beds occur in most of the geological 

 periods ; but the most important supply comes from 

 the Jurassic, which contains 46 per cent, of the 

 European sedimentary ores. These ores contribute 

 70 per cent, of the total ; the replacement ores 

 amount to 12 per cent. ; the contact deposits and 

 magnetites, of which the genesis is doubtful, amount 

 to 16 per cent. ; in reference to these ores the author 

 appears to have overlooked the fact that some of 

 the large Lapland masses consist of titaniferous 

 magnetite, and to overstate the strength of the case 

 for the magmatic origin of the Kiruna ores. 



The iron ore reserves are best known in Europe, 

 and taking this quantity as the unit, the supply in 

 North America would be represented by three, in 

 South America by two, in Asia by three-quarters, 

 and in Africa by one-sixth. In both Africa and Asia, 

 however, the amount may be expected to be increased 

 greatly by further exploration. 



The reserves of iron ore in the world are estimated 

 as sufficient to maintain the production of 191 3 for 

 1000 years ; but if the output of iron increases at 

 the pre-war rate of 5 per cent, per annum, the supply 

 would be exhausted in about 130 years ; but a fall 

 in the rate of increase appears inevitable, and conse- 

 quently the ore reserves will have a longer duration. 



The progress of the iron industry is of primary 

 importance to the world and its future, and is especi- 

 ally difficult to forecast. Hitherto, Europe has had 

 the advantages over the United States of cheap 

 labour and of the proximity of ore and coal. In 

 spite of this, the United States has gained the 

 supremacy in the iron industry through economy in 

 labour by mass production and through the large local 

 market for manufactured goods which is maintained 

 by the high wages paid. Europe has now to face 

 conditions when labour is no longer cheap, and when 

 the low efficiency that accompanies low wages cannot 

 be as quickly altered. The main European iron 

 field is now separated politically from the Westphalian 

 coal field. The part of the Lorraine field which was 

 French before 1914 was handicapped by lack of 

 labour, and most of the miners were Italian ; and 

 unless adequate labour can be secured for the mines, 

 and the Westphalian coal and the Lorraine iron can 

 be brought together under favourable economic 

 conditions, the development of the field will be 

 jeopardised. The Belgian iron industry is dependent 

 on German coal and on imported ore. Austria has 

 no coal, and her considerable iron ores will probably 

 be exported to feed the German furnaces. The three 

 chief ore - exporting countries, Sweden, Spain, and 

 Norway, will probably be but little disturbed by the 

 new conditions, which will help the Norwegian ores, 

 since most of them need concentration and briquetting. 

 The large British reserves of ore, though they have 

 the advantage of proximity to coal, may be useless 

 should the high price of fuel render it profitable only 

 to melt high-grade ores which must be imported. 

 The British iron industry will no doubt adjust itself 

 to the new conditions, but Mr. Roesler predicts that 

 the transition will be troublesome and painful. The 

 outlook of the iron industry in this country is indeed 

 dismal if costs of production can be lowered only at 

 the expense of coal and labour. That there are 

 opportunities for saving in other ways appears clear 

 from the fact that whereas in the United States each 

 blast furnace has an output of 120,000 tons per 

 annum, in Germany it is 55,000 tons, and in England 

 only 28,000 tons. 



Mr. Roesler's work concludes with an excellent 

 bibliography. 



NO. 2746, VOL. 109] 



